Creative Writing
"Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity." - Hermann Hesse
How to Write a Short Stories
How to write a short story is pretty self explanatory. It’s like a novel, but much shorter. A short novel is called a novella, but a short story is even shorter than that, usually about 2,000 to 20,000 words in length. It is a wide range. Some short stories can actually be quite long.
Of course, as with any work, the length of a story, short or long, does not decide its quality and worth. You might think of novels as “the work to create”, meaning, once you’ve published a novel, you’ve made it. There is no set standard for deciding when you’ve “made it” as a writer. Writing short stories can have just as significant of an impact on your writing career as a novel, depending on what you do with it.
Develop your skills and techniques – Even if you know you want to be a novelist, writing shorts stories can be a very helpful stepping stone.
When you want to explore different styles, areas, and genres of writing, you may decide to practice each type. Short stories are the easiest way to do this. Because they are so much shorter than novels, you can turn them out more quickly and get more done in a short amount of time.
Develop a portfolio and get noticed faster
When you write short stories, you can build up a portfolio faster. Try to write different types of short stories or those types that display the talent you want to be recognized for. You can send the stories to be published in magazines, ezines, and other publishing formats. If they aren’t accepted, you can always publish them on free sites such as Helium.com. This will give you a place to refer literary agents, publishers and others to show your talent. You can also promote your stories to get more readers and followers.
Do what you love
Finally, you may decide that you enjoy writing short stories the most. Novels aren’t for everybody and short stories are just as good. You can still publish collections of short stories just as you would a novel. If writing short stories is your prose of choice, don’t feel ashamed to focus on them. Short stories can carry just as much acclaim and respect.
Just as any type of writing, short story writing can give you many benefits as well as others. Practice and exposure are certainly great reasons to get writing and hopefully published one day.